SNOW AND MOON
Neighbourhood: Kenaston
Address: 5-1727 Kenaston Blvd
Phone: 204-309-0606
Entrees: $10-$19
Icy treats are having a moment. Globally in major cities (particularly in incubators of Instagram-ably cute desserts like Japan, Korea and Taiwan) finding new ways to ice cream is where it’s at, whether stretched, nitro-frozen or spread in thin sheets and rolled.
Winnipeg, however, is a less populous city full of discerning diners, meaning the trends that stick are those worth hopping on the bandwagon for. It also means that while visiting either of Snow and Moon Dessert Cafe‘s cute locations (South Kenaston and St. James) you’re just as likely to see an aspiring influencer documenting her ice cream as a jock munching on multi-coloured macarons, or the ladies-who-lunch set daintily downing a mountain of strawberry “snow.”
Most varieties of shaved ice involve flavouring delicate shreds of ice with sweet syrups or toppings. Snow and Moon differentiates its product by shaving frozen milk into light and fluffy flakes that cake, clump and melt on the tongue almost identically to the white stuff outside, yet taste as luscious and rich as ice cream.
This sweet snow comes in chocolate, vanilla and fruit flavours and is served in knock-your-socks-off portions, in wide white bowls. Matcha flavoured snow, with its muted green hue and delicate grassy flavour, is a top pick.
Yogurt lychee snow extends the idea to a new, cultured frontier of dairy, and yogurt’s signature tang makes a perfect backdrop for sweet, syrupy lychee fruits.
Hot cafe-style drinks, as well as smoothies and iced coffees topped with milk snow, are also on offer. An alluring dessert case supplements the menu with Asian-inflected patisserie like matcha roll cakes and ube macarons.
Sibuya honey toast, a treat popular in Japan, is typically made by hollowing out and cubing the centre of a section of squishy Japanese milk bread, tossing the cubes with honey before reinserting them. A warning for those clinging to carb-conscious New Year’s resolutions: what emerges from the kitchen is a golden brick of bread the size of the plate, capped off by a filly whorl of whipped cream. Order extra spoons for the dieters anyway. Once set on the table, its warm-from-the-oven scent is impossible to resist, and the fluffy interior – shot through with honey and topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream – is pure pleasure.
It must explain why, even when snow is falling, this ice cream shop is packed. At the end of the day, it’s all about fun.
